English to Spanish Art/Literary Poetry & Literature guidebook

The key feature of this process was the trillo de pedernal, the flint thresher. A trillo de pedernal is the size and shape of a large door and is made of four big planks of wood, usually pine, set parallel, between a metre and a half and two metres long. The planks are fixed together with crosspieces and nails to make a single hefty board. On their lower surface about 1500 slits are made, in rows, with a hammer and chisel. In each slit a sharp piece of flint is set, parallel to the long sides of the planks. Four small iron wheels would keep the threshing board sufficiently far above the stone surface of the era to prevent damage to the flints. The front part of the thresher would curve upwards and have a strong ring set in it. Onto this was tied the rope that was linked, via a rocker arm, to the mules, horses or cattle that pulled the thresher. These trillos de pedernal can occasionally still be seen in antique shops where they fetch a high price. Turned over to display the flints, they have been made into glass-topped tables at the Bar Restaurant Los Molinos in Lubrín.